Would be nice to have grade layers in the editor timeline anyway, though.

Gonna keep asking 'till it happens... or failing that, how about the ability to select multiple clips on the editor timeline and make them into a single composite shot?

Hmm, the more I think about that, the more complicated it seems. What if you selected two clips, both on the same layer, that had another clip in between, also on the same layer? Where would the new comp go on the timeline? Same layer with a chunk missing? New layer?

@JMcAllister y'know, being able to select and send multiple clips to a Composite from the timeline is a popular wish list item, but I think you hit it on the head when you wrote that's probably a lot more complicated than we think. Just moving from a track setup (multiple clips per track) to a layer setup (one clip per layer) raises some issues in how layers should auto-stack... For example, a transition requires overlapping frames--so which end is the "top" layer? Transitions only work in the Editor, so those would have to be removed, then the user starts wondering why the transition went away...

Grades in the Editor would be a lot easier to implement!

@Wixardboy@WhiteCranePhoto in principle I agree but point out that pretty much every camera has a unique RAW format and pretty much every camera requires custom code to implement. This can be seen in (for example) Adobe Camera Raw where every update adds new cameras. In short, it's not adding support for "A" RAW format, but support for DOZENS of RAW formats. This may be one of those things requiring a lot more time than we think (and requiring constant work to keep up with new cameras), and might be unfeasible for Hitfilm's devs. Sticking with the ACR comparison for now, ACR has more devs than FXHOME has employees.

I'd love to be wrong in this speculation, and will hope, along with you guys, that RAW can be implemented. Given the effort and cost, it's probable it would be a Pro-only option.

@Andersen01498 Hitfilm supports depth channels. A depth channel is a grayscale image where white is close to the camera, black is distant. A depth map becomes a source layer for a Set Matte effect used to limit other effects and parameters. Other color effects can be used to modify the gray values to focus them where needed. There are VideoCopilot and Surfaced Studio tutorials for Ae showing similar workflow (except Ae uses "Track Mattes" instead of Set Matte).

Example: to use a depth map to add Lens Blur--one would either have the depth map in its own Composite Shot or buried under grade layers in the main comp, depending on workflow preference. For this discussion the depth map is in an embedded composite shot. So... We have our render in, we have our depth map comp on a layer and muted. We stick a Grade Layer on top of the render and add Lens Blur followed by Set Matte. The Set Matte uses the depth map as source layer, matte type is Luminance, blend mode is Replace. Now the Lens Blur applies to white areas of the depth map, lessening as the map falls to black. Ok, so now we want the blur changed so things are sharp halfway out but blurred foreground and background. Great. We'll go into the depth map comp and add a Curves filter to the depth map render. We'll add one point to the curve in the center and pull that all the way to black. We'll take the existing black point and pull it all the way to white. This changes the depth map to be white close to and far from the camera and black in the middle distance. Now the lens blur effects fore and background and leaves midground alone.

This is the standard procedure for using Depth Maps in any layer-based compositor.

If it would help I can find the tutorials I'm thinking of for Ae to use as reference. They're pretty easy to "translate to Hitfilm."

In fact, I've created and used Depth Maps in Hitfilm as far back as Hitfilm 2 Ultimate!

@Triem23 That's the biggest downer to raw video. I wonder if there's a possibility of partnering with a company that provides raw codec support so as to divide and conquer there. I wish more companies used Red's approach of providing an SDK so that the 3rd party vendors who want to support their raw codec don't have to deal with the R&D, and it also provided consistency with things like color management across software.

@WhiteCranePhoto it's a tricky proposition to say the least. I mean, as RAW pulls direct sensor data, obviously each sensor is potentially unique. Whoever has the funding and coders to make your idea happen would have a great business niche to dominate.

I was about to type that one might think, say, all Canon Digic V sensors might share a code base, but a 20,30 and 50 MP version of a full-frame sensor would have different numbers of photosites, hence different light sensitivity, hence, probably more differences than immediately come to mind leading to radically different RAW files.

If you want to get nifty then additionally consider something like Vegas sink links. Grouping but with slightly different rules. Having both, like Vegas, lets you use what is best for the particular task at hand.

@FinlayDaG33k has some requests. Finlay, this thread is regularly checked by the devs and is a better location for feature requests than creating new threads--hence the copy/paste.

Hii There,

I've been using Hitfilm Express for a while now, and I have to say, it's great software, but with a lot ofthings I see as "issues".Now you may think differently about it than I do, but I decided to share it anyways:

Updates

Whenever a new update gets published, I have to somewhat manually download it through my browser, run it and go through the installer pretty much again... for every... single... update...Not a big deal, but it can be annoying.I'd rather see some kind of extra "program" that updates it for me.

For example, I use OBS a lot.It also gets an update every now and then, but instead of having to download every update manually, I just click "Update Now".OBS will close and update itself.When it's done, I can hit "Launch OBS" and it's all done.

I wonder if something like that could be implemented.This way, I don't have to manually locate the folder I have Hitfilm installed in every single time.And, of course, I can make a cup-a-coffee while it's updating.

Error-codes on crash

This one came to mind today when Hitfilm randomly decided to crash.I tried to recover an autosave, but it just greeted me with a "Hitfilm has encountered an unexpected error".So, I hit "report" and then I was greeted with a message: "failed to make dumpfile" (or something like it).It would be nice to give us some kind of error-code so we can troubleshoot if needed (just like Windows BSOD errors).

Detection of "corrupt" proxy

So, after Hitfilm crashed, I wanted to recover an autosave.and as I've already stated before, it greeted me with another crash.After a long search on *why* I couldn't open the auto-save, I found something.It was the folder containing my proxies! (even though I moved it to another location before, but for some kind of reason, since the last update it put it back to its defaults?).Upon deleting the folders containing the proxies, the autosave could be properly loaded and I could continue on my project.

It would be great to see some kind of detection for a "corrupt" proxy.It should then display a message that the proxy was corrupt and had to be "ignored" (or something like it.

Center Align

This one is a bit of a "personal preference", but it would be great that if we add text, that there would be 2 buttons (or I just missed them?):- Vertically Center- Horizontally CenterThis way, I don't have to keep guessing where the center of the screen is when I want text on my shot (just like Sony Vegas has).

I hope I could be of any service providing this feedback I'll post more feedback once I find more "issues" down the road.

True, if the text layer is the size of your frame, then the justification center option will center horizontally. No control over vertical.

The OP mentions Vegas. Vegas has three titlers and each has the ability to algorithmically center as well as position. First there is an anchor point for the text object. Center is one option for the anchor. Then there is a position. Protype has 0,0 as center. Titles and Text has 0.5, 0.5 as center. Both are relative coordinates.

I think it would be nice to algorithmically place text in Hitfilm. For that we need an anchor point and ideally relative coordinates. So something like "Center", 0.5, 0.5 is frame/layer centered no matter the text size or number of lines. You want a lower third at 10% and grow left to right no matter what and work single or multiple lines. Use Anchor "bottom left" and coordinates 0.1, 0.1. A top third. Anchor "top left" and coordinates 0.1, 0.9 (or something equiv).

When you drag clips into the timeline, you just drag them to the clip to the left and they snap to the previous clip. Or you could trim the clip in the Trimmer window, then press "B" and it drops the clip at the beginning - if there's no other clip - or it drops it at the end of the previous clip if your time indicator is at the end of the clip. I don't know how much easier it could get.

There are no less than three preset systems in Hitfilm. Presets in individual effects (these must be created by FXHOME or testers), presets and stacks of presets can be saved to the Effects Panel, and individual Composite Shots--or full projects--can be exported and re-imported via "Import Composite Shot" to create and use templates.

There are four ways to change the speed of a clip--right-click and select Properties in the Media Bin to change "frames per second," right-click a clip on the Timeline and select "Speed/Duration," the Rate Stretch tool and the Speed effect.

There are three ways to do Fade In/Outs with audio--keyframing the Audio Mixer fader for the track, keyframe a channel mixer effect on a clip, use the Fade audio transition. With the transition, you would drag it to the end of a clip, then drag the inner edge of the transition to change its length.

How, exactly, can these multiple techniques be augmented to be easier? Bear in mind existing methods must be left more or less intact for backwards compatibility.

+1 to someone's (I'm told... dunno who) suggestion earlier to be able to choose playback speed. Maybe with a slider like Vegas does it? Watching something play at half speed you can spot mistakes that are only subliminal at normal speeds, plus what I recently needed it for: cutting something to the beat of some music.

Also it will give Hitfilm time to catch up and play render-heavy frames fully rather than having to skip them to maintain the x1 speed.

@TheDavLab&nbsp; I'm pretty sure that MP4 will not support an alpha channel. I could be mistaken about that, but I think only MOV supports alpha in video formats with the rare exception for some AVIs. Myself, I prefer the loseless PNG export then if too crisp when I import it back in I can tweak it with blur, motion blur, etc.

I would like to be able to put markers on the timeline (I believe in Vegas it's done by hitting 'M'). This way I could hit the letter in the rhythm of music and then would be able to cut in exactly that rhythm. This would be great.

Yeah, you need to have a codec that supports alpha channels... I think that you can export alpha channels with codecs like DNxHD and Grass Valley's HQX, but not every variant (just like not every variant of ProRes supports alpha) does. I *think* that Cineform can also support alpha channels, but I'm not sure.

EXR does (that's actually a very important part of why OpenEXR even exists), in addition to PNG.

Most of the time though, you want the clips with the alpha channels to be prety sharp so that you can make clean composites and then use an optical flow renderer to recreate the motion blur after the compositing stage. I've run into compositing artifact problems that way, a time when had I had more experience with chroma key, I'd have raised the shutter angle to 90 degrees instead of leaving it at 180 for the green screen shots. One actresses long hair had quite a bit of motion blur in it that caused the green of the background to bleed through a bit. I was able to clean it up, but it took quite a bit of tweaking and it wasn't quite perfect.

WhiteCrane and tddavis this is for reference and to mostly confirm what you wrote.

DavLab I'm going to assume Hitfilm 4 is a typo and you meant Hitfilm 2017 as you typed in your other thread.

In Hitfilm 2017 PNG and EXR sequences can support alpha channels. Obviously those don't have audio, so are probably most useful for "pre-renders" of stock or library elements or to reduce computation on a locked shot. These are lossless formats and maintain the maximum image quality Hitfilm can create.

ProRes (Mac) and Cineform (PC) both support alpha channels. Also DavLab, while both are high bitrate formats, they are both "compressed. " Uncompressed 1920x1080 video output at 30 fps would be close to 1.2 GIGAbits per second, so a 180Mbps ProRes or Cineform is still close to 10:1 compression.

Mp4 does not support alpha channels at all.

If your exported alphas are too sharp, remember you control your alpha channel in Hitfilm. You can adjust the global AA at the project level and you can add effects to blur or soften alphas in your EDL. You may be the first post I can recall saying output was TOO sharp. It's more common for people to want to kill the global AA to sharpen output more.

Oh +1 on vector import.

Boris 3D objects can load some vectors, but it might only be Adobe Illustrator files (not on computer to check), and, of course this only works with the Boris 3D Extrusion filter.